The 5th stage is something in between a hilly and a mountain stage. With 3 long Cat.1 climbs we should expect some kind of selection. But as there is always a longer descent afterwards and also towards the finish it`s not said, that dropped riders can fight their way back.
Big favourite is the Spaniard Valverde, who should be able to make a decent sprint in the end.
Costagli and Kulhavy both collected some KoM points already. Those two are also the riders being first on top of the early Cat.1.
Behind them lots of riders try to grab a few as well with Heider, Pichon, Veloso, Margaliot and Topchanyuk being next.
Bad luck for Denifl on the descent. He crashes in a sharp corner but can continue racing. The 12th in the overall surely hopes to improve a few positions even though it`s not looking good after yesterdays weak time trial.
Even further behind already another disappointment so far with Lloret.
Finally a group of 4 was able to get a small gap followed by another 4 riders. Kulhavy Anza Raisin Albasini
+42s
Margaliot Heider Topchanyuk Rolland
With the help of 4 team mates Denifl is back in the peloton on top of the first of the smaller hills in between.
Also the two groups came together making it a breakaway of 8 riders. The peloton of 100 riders is ~3min behind while Lloret is still further behind.
Finally the Spaniard made contact again. As 17th in the GC he surely doesn`t want to lose more positions but he had just Bonnet next to him and had to work quite a lot on his own.
For the first time it`s Vesuvio working at the front. Andy Schleck lasted until after the mountain time trial to take the race lead and saved the energy of his team mates this way.
124km left and a gap of 3'17. Nothing spectacular yet.
None of the riders in the breakaway has ambitions to take any points or bonus seconds.
So Heider, Margaliot and Albasini just take the points while doing the pace.
The KoM was a bit more contested, but while it was Kulhavy wanting the points the most, he was a bit blocked on the right and just finished 3rd here. Winner was Raisin over Albasini. Still Kulhavy takes the provisional lead here and will most probably wear the shirt tomorrow.
This attack comes a bit late. Directly after the KoM Kulhavy accelerates and opens a gap. Does he plan to go solo with 70km to go and a gap of 7min ot the peloton?
10km later he is back in the peloton and as the gap get up to 8min it might have been smarter to work together as the chances are not bad to take a win out of the breakaway today.
Amador did watch Alarcon`s successful attempt carefully and tries it with a bit less to go.
42km left and a gap of 7min. But as 13th in the GC his goal is not the stage win but to gain more time to get higher.
Heider again takes the points ahead of Margaliot and Rolland. No fight though.
With 40km left they have 6'39 to Amador, who already gained 1'20 on the field.
Project 1t4i and also Koenigsegg realize the danger and do a higher pace behind. Not the best news for Amador or the group as the last climb is soon the be reached.
1/3 of the climb is done and the group is working together very well. Yet the gap is down to 3'50 to Amador, who is still 1'50 ahead of the peloton. Great effort by him.
Denifl looks regenerated well enough to attack first. He is followed by Van den Broeck, Brajkovic and Gesink.
Other riders remember the first and successful attempt two days ago and so they all want to join.
Contador is the first with Rujano, Schleck and Pluchkin immediately following.
Also Spilak attacks now as he wasn`t placed very good.
Other riders like MAchado, Sella, Valverde, Uran or Alarcon still wait in a group of 10.
And also news for the puncheur group. Gilbert or Di Maggio already lost contact being in a group of 27 behind those including Nazaret, Brambilla, Lloret or Faiers.
Contador joins the Gesink group first, while Spilak found contact to the Schleck group behind, where Rujano lost contact.
<27>
<16>
<25>
Pluchkin
<23>
Brajkovic
<1'03>
Amador
<1'30>
Breakaway
Alarcon
Sella
Rujano
Schleck
Denifl
Krasnoperov
Valverde
Machado
Van den Broeck
Siutsou
Uran
Spilak
Gesink
Scarponi
Contador
Costagli
Also Schleck and his group found contact now making it a group of 9 chasing 50s behind Amador and 40s ahead of the Valverde group. Alarcon being the worst placed favourite another 30s back.
Kulhavy attacked on the last KoM and has a nice 50s gap now. Will the rest of the group come back or maybe even the favourite group?
Bad news for Pluchkin as he wasn`t able to follow. He is joined by Valverde being 33s back. Strong effort by Valverde as he distanced his companions by 30s but probably too late.
Kulhavy is one of the best descenders in professionaly cycling and so this is a perfect situation for him. He already opened a gap of 73s to his former group. The favourites are already 43s behind those but still he has 18km to go.
Amador also reached the group, where his team mate Albasini is working for him now. But as you can see in the background the favourites are coming closer.
And also make the contact with 15km to go. Bad luck for Amador, but it was a nice attempt.
Kulhavy is just 47s ahead and need to fight now.
Pluchkin and Valverde follow already 1'09 later. Valverde already lost a lot to fight for the win, but Pluchkin is a big surprise today. He might lose a lot of positions here.
Kulhavy really fought today and comes solo under the Flamme Rouge having a 30s gap.
And the Czech takes a great win for his team and compensates Uran`s fail today for his team. Plus he takes the KoM lead.
Now to the time bonuses. In a close sprint of 3 riders Spilak was the fastest ahead of Machado. Amador wasn`t rewarded today and gets the 4th only.
Schleck will keep his GC lead ahead of Machado and Spilak as Pluchkin lost ground today.
Point wise Spilak gets the jersey after this stage.
Valverde and Pluchkin (+1'50)
Sella, Siutsou, Rujano, Uran (+2'34)
and Alarcon (+3'32) are the big losers today.
Pluchkin will drop to 5th in the GC, while Van den Broeck and Denifl make huge jumps inside the top10 with Sella and Rujano being the last in there while Uran drops out.
Result
1
Jaroslav Kulhavy
Milka - AVG
5h14'41
2
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
+ 32
3
Tiago Machado
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
4
Andrei Amador
UBS - BMC
s.t.
5
Andy Schleck
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
6
Jurgen Van den Broeck
Team Puma - SAP
s.t.
7
Michael Albasini
UBS - BMC
s.t.
8
Robert Gesink
Project 1t4i
s.t.
9
Alberto Contador
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
10
Janez Brajkovic
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
